ATLANTA — Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Tuesday he has to find ways to use rookie reliever Wei-Chung Wang that are beneficial and fair to all involved.

After Wang returned to the mound Monday night for the first time in 13 days and was hammered for five runs, including two homers, in two-thirds of an inning by the Braves, Roenicke spoke with general manager Doug Melvin about the situation. Roenicke said he and pitching coach Rick Kranitz also spoke to Wang afterward.

“We’re trying to get him going to where we can bring him in and get him through some innings,” said Roenicke. “You want your long man to be able to pick up innings for you.

“He’s in a tough spot; we’re in a tough spot. We want him to succeed. For him to succeed, we know we need to get him out there a lot. Yet, if you get him a lot in these tight ball games and things don’t go well, we’re trying to figure out the best way to do this.”

Because Roenicke had been hesitant to use Wang in close games until Monday night, he rarely pitched. In the Brewers’ first 45 games, he saw action only six times with poor results — 19 hits, five walks, 15 runs in 72/3 innings (17.61 ERA).

Wang is a Rule 5 draft pick and must spend 90 days on the Brewers’ active roster and remain in the big leagues all season. He is trying to make the unprecedented leap from rookie ball but is 22 with a good arm and high upside, so they’d like to keep him and develop him in the future as a starting pitcher.

That leaves Roenicke to find some middle ground where Wang doesn’t go so long between outings and is put into situations where he can succeed. Roenicke also doesn’t want the young pitcher’s confidence to be shattered by getting roughed up on the mound.

“I always worry about that,” said Roenicke. “I had Kranitz in late last night with Wang and Frankie (Rodriguez) was here late, talking to him, trying to let him know that we know it’s a very difficult situation for him.

“Just like a guy who sits on the bench for three weeks without starting and has to go up there with the game on the line and hit. These things aren’t easy.”

As for the commitment to keeping Wang, Roenicke said, “We’d like to if there’s a way to do it. We certainly would like to do it. That’s part of trying to figure this thing out.”

Henderson on rehab: Reliever Jim Henderson will begin a minor-league rehab assignment Friday with Class AA Huntsville. Henderson has been on the 15-day DL since May 2 with shoulder inflammation.

Henderson pitched his second bullpen session Tuesday since going on the DL and it went well, so he was scheduled to begin his rehab.

“It went very well,” said Roenicke. “That’s good to see. The ball came out well and he’s feeling good. If today didn’t go well, we’d have him throw one more (bullpen session) here but he doesn’t need to.”

Roenicke said Henderson was sent to Huntsville in part because rehabbing reliever Tom Gorzelanny is going to move up from Class A Brevard County to Class AAA Nashville. Gorzelanny had off-season shoulder surgery and is on the comeback trail.

As for how long Henderson will pitch on rehab, Roenicke said, “We have him tentatively scheduled for three outings. Then we’ll see where he is. We want to make sure there are no more issues. But, more importantly, he has to have his stuff back. When he comes back here, we want him ready to come into situations where we need a big inning.”

Henderson was very upbeat after his session, which went about 30 pitches to assure his shoulder was up to it.

“It was a lot stronger, just how my arm felt,” said Henderson, who had been dealing with the shoulder issue off and on for weeks. “The other day when I was throwing, toward the end of it I started to get tired. Today, even with the higher pitch count, I felt stronger through the whole bullpen session.

“Knowing my next time out on a mound possibly would be a rehab appearance, I wanted to step up the intensity to test it out a bit. All of that went well. The slider was good and that was pain-free again today. That’s what was bothering me before, so that was a plus.”

Overbay volunteered: How was it that first baseman Lyle Overbay ended up on the mound for the Brewers in the bottom of the eighth inning Monday night?

The obvious answer was that Wang was unable to get out of the inning in a nightmarish 40-pitch outing. But why was it Overbay pitching for the first time as a professional instead of catcher Martin Maldonado, who pitched an inning in relief in St. Louis earlier in the year?

“They came down to ask (infielder Jeff) Bianchi if he could catch Maldy if he needed to pitch,” said Overbay. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll pitch.’ There was no reason to have Maldy go out there.”

Overbay retired the only batter he faced, Ryan Doumit, on an infield popup, in the 9-3 loss to Atlanta. Doumit was batting for the second time that inning, having led off with a pinch-hit homer off Wang.

Overbay, who last pitched in college in the late 1990s, said his main goal was not to walk hitters and turn the inning into a bigger travesty. So he threw mostly “fastballs” that registered in the 80-82 mph range.

“It was more that I was able to throw strikes,” he said. “These guys (pitchers) make it look a lot easier than it is. I threw it slow enough for him to pop out.

“It never ceases to amaze you. I played outfield last year for the New York Yankees and now I have a third of inning pitched in the big leagues.”

Overbay said he received a message from Stan Stolte, the pitching coach at Nevada-Reno when he played there and did some pitching.

“He was wondering if I was at 85-86 mph like the old days,” said Overbay. “I told him no, it was 82. He said those are good speeds for the changeup.”

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